Pat Murphy Says He Was Forced Out At Arizona State

The Pat Murphy saga has taken a stunning turn. Nearly a month ago Arizona State University issued a statement saying Murphy had resigned his position as baseball coach. The sudden announcement ended Murphy’s 15-season reign in Tempe.

However, Murphy made his first comments on the matter over the weekend, and his story is different from the one told by ASU and Vice President for Athletics LisaLove.

Murphy told the Arizona Republic: “Without warning or explanation I was terminated as Arizona State head baseball coach. This was a decision—unprecedented in its timing—that was not dictated by me and isn’t something I agree with. I look forward to my next job coaching in the NCAA.

“During my 25 years as a head coach I have worked hard to build programs based on transparency, integrity, and hard work. While I have answered many questions surrounding my departure, I have been left with many unanswered questions by those who made the decision to let me go.”

“I want to set the record straight but also let the ASU community know how thankful I was to be a part of it for so many years,” Murphy said. “I’m very much bothered by how it ended, the timing of it and unanswered questions and being out of baseball for the first time in 27 years.

“I’m not saying our clubs are perfect, but we’ve never intentionally done anything to be dishonest or unethical. That’s why I have to set the record straight, to let others know the truth so this won’t hinder my future. This has concerned people who are going to think it’s more than it is.”

The newspaper says Murphy would not answer questions about an on-going investigation into the ASU baseball program. The alleged infractions are thought to be minor in scale.

Also, I mentioned something previously that I think is worth mentioning again. There is a section of the NCAA’s official website called The Record. That’s where all coaching “transactions” are noted. While Tim Esmay’s hiring as ASU’s interim head baseball coach was noted in the Dec. 7 edition of The Record, since ASU announced his “resignation” on Nov. 20 The Record has never made any mention of Murphy either resigning or being fired.